"It's our symposium, but on steroids," said Liz Williams, president of SoFAB, which has partnered with the Convention Center to produce the event. "Farm to table" couldn't be hotter: Some sources have said the building passion for local food is the biggest food trend in decades. Topics on the agenda include fair trade, aquaculture, farming, fisheries, food security and safety, food law and policy, food science and genetic modification, sustainability, food and drink sourced locally to globally -- and more.

"We have some fabulous people coming. We're incredibly excited because everybody's saying yes. The only reason people are saying no is because they are already committed," Williams said.

This week, registration opened for the event, and the first of the keynote speakers was announced: former Texas agriculture commissioner and author Jim Hightower, a longtime proponent of the farm-to-table movement. A populist known for his colorful straight talk, Hightower recently told a group of his state's legislators to "jump on the Texas Farm-to-Table Caucus like gators on a poodle."

"He's just the beginning," Williams said of the speakers. Others will be announced as they commit.

Attending for a restaurant panel are chefs Anne Hart of Provence Market Café in Bridgeport, W. Va., and chef Christophe Hille of the farm-to-table restaurant Northern Spy Food Co. in New York. There will be chef and mixologist demonstrations as well as panels; a panel on grain-to-table will feature craft distillers and brewers.

As for "international," the Ecuadorean trade minister has confirmed attendance, Williams said.

"Ecuador produces 60 percent of the broccoli and 60 percent of the artichokes that come into the United States," Williams said. "Under the current Andean treaty, they're not subject to tariffs, but the agreements are going to expire so there's a possibility that it could raise the prices of broccoli and artichokes."

The features of the SoFAB symposiums, such as continuing legal education and a film festival, will remain. The nonprofit museum's annual gala will be held on Friday night, Aug. 2, as well.

One significant difference is that the symposium will be held at the Convention Center concurrently with the Louisiana Restaurant Association's 60th annual Foodservice and Hospitality Expo, which draws restaurant owners and operators from across the state, along with national vendors who fulfill every need a restaurant could have, from Louisiana sausage makers to daiquiri machine inventors and sellers of nonslip flooring. The Great American Seafood Cook-Off, a competition of professional chefs from several states, also takes place during the expo.

"I hope the restaurateurs will attend," Williams said. "You don't have to attend everything." Price options range from $150 for one day to $400 for the entire symposium (not including the gala).

Williams hopes to draw 500 to 1,000 attendees this first year, and wants the event to grow on the South by Southwest model, in which several conferences on different topics happen simultaneously.

"They're interconnected by cross-marketing," Williams said. "You just never know what kind of serendipities you can have in this.

"It's the same weekend of Satchmo Fest and White Linen Night," she added. "We don't have a lot of night events, so people can go to White Linen Night.

"And it's also a time when the city's not really busy, so we're hoping it's giving the city a shot in the arm with this. And with the commitment to have it every year, it's only going to grow."